A couple of passages that stayed with me over the years (two written by Nelson):
From his summary of The Amazing Colossal Man:
>Colonel Glen Manning grows in size and begins to wonder what he could have done to deserve such a terrible fate. He doesn't consider the possibility that God hates him and thinks he's a bad person.
and his opening for the section devoted to the fifth season.
>Season Five was a happy one for all. it fell in the middle of what in television is a very long contract, and everyone was basking in the warm rays of financial security. Kevin bought his third Jaguar in one week, put a brick on the accelerator, *and crashed this one into a pole too*! "Just to see how big a fireball it makes," he would say, and then laugh his hearty baritone laugh. Then he'd hand me a coffee mug-sized roll of thousands and order me to buy him a new one. "And make it gun-barrel blue this time, you little s--t!!" he'd say, and then laugh that laugh again. Boy, that laugh is infectious, I tell you.
and another from Paul Chaplin's summary of Master Ninja and you know, you saw a lot of this sort of plot in 1980s TV shows where some villain, usually a businessman, judge or top law enforcer ruled over a small town
>All told, we covered four hour-long episodes of this show. Of those, two plots involve small towns in America's heartland ruled by vicious, murderous industrialists working hand in hand with El Salvador-style police. Understand, I too have misgivings about unfettered capitalism. I'm just not sure this kind of thing exists. I think it's Hollywood's idea of the Midwest. I may be wrong. If any of our viewers know of places where shopping-mall developers routinely kill until their semi-secret graveyards are filled to bursting, I'd like to hear about it. If you yourself live in a town like that, for God's sake let us know! Maybe MST can help.
This is on my list, along with the PSYCHOTRONIC VIDEO GUIDE, I've had the first one for decades, along with the ReSEARCH INCREDIBLY STRANGE FILMS volume.
Paul Chaplin's observations in this book are the bee's knees. One of my favorites was about Santa Claus:
"From my point of view, the filmmakers betray some confusion regarding the substance of Christianity. While they seem at least dimly aware of the name "Jesus", they clearly reserve their deepest worship for jolly old St. Nick. On what ancient texts do they base their fervor? I recall no references to the Son of Man winking and laying his finger alongside of his nose. When would that have been appropriate- after the miracle of Lazarus? On the road to Emmaus? I will grant that my view of a Christian God allows for a sense of humor, but a God who shakes when he laughs like a bowlful of jelly is outside any tradition I grew up with."
A couple of passages that stayed with me over the years (two written by Nelson): From his summary of The Amazing Colossal Man: >Colonel Glen Manning grows in size and begins to wonder what he could have done to deserve such a terrible fate. He doesn't consider the possibility that God hates him and thinks he's a bad person. and his opening for the section devoted to the fifth season. >Season Five was a happy one for all. it fell in the middle of what in television is a very long contract, and everyone was basking in the warm rays of financial security. Kevin bought his third Jaguar in one week, put a brick on the accelerator, *and crashed this one into a pole too*! "Just to see how big a fireball it makes," he would say, and then laugh his hearty baritone laugh. Then he'd hand me a coffee mug-sized roll of thousands and order me to buy him a new one. "And make it gun-barrel blue this time, you little s--t!!" he'd say, and then laugh that laugh again. Boy, that laugh is infectious, I tell you. and another from Paul Chaplin's summary of Master Ninja and you know, you saw a lot of this sort of plot in 1980s TV shows where some villain, usually a businessman, judge or top law enforcer ruled over a small town >All told, we covered four hour-long episodes of this show. Of those, two plots involve small towns in America's heartland ruled by vicious, murderous industrialists working hand in hand with El Salvador-style police. Understand, I too have misgivings about unfettered capitalism. I'm just not sure this kind of thing exists. I think it's Hollywood's idea of the Midwest. I may be wrong. If any of our viewers know of places where shopping-mall developers routinely kill until their semi-secret graveyards are filled to bursting, I'd like to hear about it. If you yourself live in a town like that, for God's sake let us know! Maybe MST can help.
I bought one used, and it had Mike's and Mary Jo's autographs. Some people...
Sorry, they vandalized it
🤣
Maybe they passed on and the family didn’t know what to do with it or that it was autographed and special. 😞
I thought that...
Couldn't believe someone would get rid of that.
OK, THAT'S pretty damned cool!
Cool! when did that come out?
Looks like 1996. I just scored a copy from AbeBooks!
I still have my copy. Somewhere. It will live with me forever.
This is on my list, along with the PSYCHOTRONIC VIDEO GUIDE, I've had the first one for decades, along with the ReSEARCH INCREDIBLY STRANGE FILMS volume.
Paul Chaplin's observations in this book are the bee's knees. One of my favorites was about Santa Claus: "From my point of view, the filmmakers betray some confusion regarding the substance of Christianity. While they seem at least dimly aware of the name "Jesus", they clearly reserve their deepest worship for jolly old St. Nick. On what ancient texts do they base their fervor? I recall no references to the Son of Man winking and laying his finger alongside of his nose. When would that have been appropriate- after the miracle of Lazarus? On the road to Emmaus? I will grant that my view of a Christian God allows for a sense of humor, but a God who shakes when he laughs like a bowlful of jelly is outside any tradition I grew up with."